The present invention relates to casting of concrete products. More precisely the present invention relates to an arrangement for casting concrete products.
In casting production processes the casting is performed in different stages at work stations and different types of lines are used, for example circulating lines such as forced circulation lines and center conveyance lines.
In forced circulation lines mold tables and molds built on them are transferred by a roll trestle in a successive order from one work station, in which a casting production process stage is performed, to next work station, in which next process stage is performed, and thus the process stage taking the longest time defines the speed of the forced circulation line.
In circulating lines mold tables, on which casting molds are built, are mounted on tracks and circulate through the work stations for the stages of the production process.
The center conveyance line comprises a central transfer wagon for moving the mold tables with molds built on them from one work station for a process stage to another work station. The work stations for process stages can be located on either side of path of the carriage or at either end of the path. The path for the central transfer wagon is typically formed by rails or guides.
The casting lines thus comprise of a plurality work stations between which the casting mold table is transferred for the different stages of the production process. The stages of the production process can comprise for example cleaning of the mold table, furnishing the mold table with fixed and detachable mold sidewalls to form the casting mold and setting of other required equipment, such as reinforcements etc., on the mold, casting of the concrete mass to the mold, together with required vibrating actions during the casting, leveling the upper surface of the product to be cast, curing the fresh cast product, demolding, in which the cast product is removed from the mold generally together with tilting of the mold and the mold sidewalls are removed from the mold table. Depending on the type of the production process line the line may comprise one or more work stations for one type of process stage. The number of work stations for each type of process stage is limited by the floor space available on the main level of the production process.
The casting of concrete mass into the mold can also be carried out in different stages if for example different layers need to be added to the product to be cast such as insulation layers in cases of insulated wall elements.
In the furnishing stage the required reinforcements, such as one or more metal meshes and lattice structures are added and fixed in the mold after the mold is built with mold sidewall on the mold table. These required reinforcements are generally prefabricated in a separate reinforcement shop and taken to the reinforcement work station of the line.